Thursday, July 13, 2017

Who’s behind the Marawi attack?

PerryScope
By Perry Diaz

Who’s behind
the Marawi attack?

Like most rebellions, the Marawi rebellion couldn’t have
happened without the financial support of someone who has the wherewithal to
sustain a long siege.More than
six weeks after the attack, the militants are still entrenched in Marawi
City.No amount of ground assault
by the Philippine Marines or bombing by Philippine Air Force warplanes could
dislodge the militants consisting of members of the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf
Group (ASG).

The Philippine military had been after the ASG terrorists
for several years now.Yet, most
of the leaders of the ASG managed to evade capture.The most recent one was Isnilon Totoni Hapilon, also known
as Abu Abdullah al-Filipini.He is
believed to be linked to ISIS.He
was formerly leader of ASG before its battalions pledged their allegiance to
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.An April 2016 issue of ISIS' weekly
newsletter Al Naba said that Hapilon
had been appointed as "emir of all
Islamic State forces in the Philippines."[Source:
Wikipedia]

What is interesting to note is the role of
the Maute matriarch, Ominta “Farhana” Romato-Maute, mother of the Maute
founders Omar and Abdullah.Last
June 7, she was arrested in Masiu, a town about 34 kilometers from Marawi City,
as she and two wounded men and seven women were trying to escape the government
troops.She is believed to be the “heart
of the Islamic State-inspired Maute group,” directing its movement and
operations and taking care of finances and international networking.She and her husband Cayamora are said
to be the “masterminds” behind the Maute attack.Farhana is reputed to be a “fiercely astute” businesswoman
and politician.She manages
several business interests including several rental houses in Quezon City,
Iligan, Catabato City, and Davao City.She once served as assemblywoman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM).

Before her capture, Farhana tried calling President Rodrigo
Duterte to talk about peace and negotiate a ceasefire after the heavy bombing
and fighting in Marawi City.Duterte turned her offer down, saying the government forces have lost
too many soldiers in the Marawi attack.The question is: Is Farhana really the mastermind of the Maute group or
is someone much higher in the food chain calling the shots?

Last July 5, government forces foiled a possible bombing in
Cagayan de Oro when they arrested Farhana’s niece Monaliza “Monay” Solaiman
Romato.Monay reportedly replaced
Farhana as the Maute’s matriarch.However, it didn’t take too long for the government forces to capture
Monay, which begs the question: With Farhana and Monay in detention, who would
take over the Maute’s financial operations?Or could it be that Farhana and Monay were just
figureheads?Is the matriarch’s
role to shield the real power behind the group?Meanwhile, the real power can lead a normal life conducting
his business empire – probably illegal drug trade -- out in the open without
any fear of scrutiny from the government.

Back-channel talks

Recently, Reuters
reported that President Duterte initiated a move to negotiate an end to the
conflict with the Maute group.However, Malacañang said that it has no information on Duterte’s
reported attempt to hold back-channel talks with the Maute terrorists. The Reuters report said a senior Duterte
aide approached Agakhan Sharief, a prominent Muslim leader, to use his connections
with the Maute group’s leaders to start back-channel talks. The report said the
talks failed as the Maute leaders “did not show sincerity and continued to
attacks on government forces.”Two
other sources familiar with the matter confirmed that Duterte had worked behind
the scenes to hold talks with the Maute brothers, Omarkhayam and Abdullah.
Marawi City Mayor Majul Usman Gandamra also confirmed that back-channel talks
were started but said he was not privy to details.

The back-channel talks did not push through when Cayamora was
caught on June 6 in Davao City, three days before Farhana’s arrest in Lanao del
Sur.

Chinese financier

A few days ago,
I received an interesting – and intriguing – information from one of my sources
in Manila.He said, “How can you crush the ASG
(Abu Sayyaf aka Abu Shabu) when it’s an open secret that the Chinese financier
of these bandits is close to so many powerful people?He's believed to instigate the Mautes to create a situation
in Marawi to divert the attention of the AFP who are almost done in
apprehending all of them to put closure to ASG. This Chinese who uses his being
a converted Muslim to lord it over basically owning all big businesses Sulu and
Mindanao wide, wants to protect his puppet Hapilon by floating the disinfo that
he escaped the military cordon in Marawi.

“If
the concerned people of Marawi is serious in finishing this tragedy, they
should act asap like the Boholanos helping the PNP and AFP in getting all the
remnants of ASG.Huwag na tayo
maglokohan, kawawa mga sundalo at peaceful Muslims na nadadamay sa kalokohan ng
iilan na may hidden agenda.Sobra
na. (Let’s not fool with ourselves.It’s a pity the soldiers and peaceful Muslims are dragged into this
foolishness of a few people with hidden agenda.It’s too much).”

Link to drug lords

My source also said that some of these
militants have business relationships with some government officials, which
makes one wonder:Are the Maute
militants working as mercenaries for those behind the Marawi attack and are
paid through the “matriarch”?

During a recent media briefing, PNP Chief Ronald ”Bato” dela Rosa confirmed
the Maute group’s link to drug lords.He said that the Maute group is known to have “protected” the drug lords
as early as last year. He said that he received information that majority of the drug lords in Metro Manila, Luzon and
Visayas went to Marawi City a year ago to hold a “drug summit.”He added that the drug lords were
protected by the Maute group and narco-politicians.Surmise it to say, Marawi appears to be the “Vatican” of the
illegal drug cartel in the country.

Underground
fortifications

When the government forces breached the Maute’s defensive
positions, they discovered bombproof tunnels used by the militants as bunker
and bomb shelters.The military
spokesman said that the roughly 10 percent of Marawi held by the Maute
militants has many tunnels and basements that can withstand 500-pound bombs.

Clearly,
the underground fortifications couldn’t have been built in the short time since
the “Marawi attack” commenced last May 23.They must already have been constructed long before that
date, which is to suggest that the Maute’s presence in Marawi may have been a
common knowledge to the city residents.The question is: Is the military aware of their presence long before the
siege?I believe so.But for as long as the Maute group
stays out of “trouble,” the military would stay out of their way.It was a de facto coexistence between the Maute group and government forces.

But on
May 23, the military decided to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, who was believed to be in
Marawi City.Hapilon is on the
FBI’s “most wanted terrorists list” with a $5 million bounty offered for his
capture, which was a good enough reason to arrest him.It was then that the Maute group purportedly
“entered” Marawi and clashed with government troops.

The
botched attempt to arrest Hapilon led to open warfare between government forces
and the Maute group. With Hapilon
out of sight -- either dead or out of the country -- and the Maute group leaderless
and in disarray, it’s just a matter of time for the fighting to come to an end.But it would a devastated city and
grieving people that would suffer for a long time from the atrocity of the
“Marawi attack.”

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About Me

ROLAND SAN JUAN was a researcher, management consultant, inventor, a part time radio broadcaster and a publishing director. He died last November 25, 2008 after suffering a stroke. His staff will continue his unfinished work to inform the world of the untold truths. Please read Erick San Juan's articles at: ericksanjuan.blogspot.com This blog is dedicated to the late Max Soliven, a FILIPINO PATRIOT.
DISCLAIMER - We do not own or claim any rights to the articles presented in this blog. They are for information and reference only for whatever it's worth. They are copyrighted to their rightful owners.
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